ntodd notes that the 76 american soldiers killed in action since april 1, 2004, exceeds the total number of u.s. troops who died during all of april 2003 (73 were the april 2003 total), and we're only 12 days into april. this means u.s. troops are dying at more than twice the rate they were during the bloodiest month of "major combat operations."
but the wall-to-wall iraq coverage i remember 1 year ago is strangely absent. it's really remarkable. has that banner on the aircraft carrier had so much impact on our consciousness that we refuse to see the current violence as anything other than post-war turmoil? a year ago everyone was talking about the war. but now that's yesterday's news. maybe we were just so relieved that it went so quickly and relatively painlessly (in terms of american casualties) last year, we just don't want to let go of the dream.
meanwhile, the president is on vacation at his ranch (something he never would have dared to do one year ago when we were in "major combat") and he's been trying to minimize the scale of resistance in iraq. i'm not surprised that the administration is trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation. but i am surprised that a substantial portion of the american public seems to be buying it.
